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Help Center › Admin screens, field by field › AI Quoter: every field and button
AI Quoter: every field and button
Field-by-field guide to the AI Quoter screen: customer, property, design, job description, draft review and saving a draft quote.
The AI Quoter turns a short description of a job into a first draft of the work and quantities. It then prices that draft from your own price book. Nothing is sent to the customer.
Where to find it: Contractor Hub → Customers & Sales → AI Quoter. You must be signed in to the Hub. Whether you see it depends on your plan (the plan setting is named ai.quote_generation; which plan includes it is a placeholder, not approved).
What the screen controls: it builds a draft quote for one customer. It uses the same AI routes as the “Quote it with AI” button on the quote screen. The AI lists work items and sizes only. The AI never sets a price; prices come from your price book.
Before you start
- Add the customer first (Customers). The AI Quoter cannot create customers.
- Fill in your price book so the draft can be priced (see price-book).
- The site owner must have added the AI service key. If it is missing, the screen shows “Needs setup: the AI service key is missing” and the Write the draft button stays off.
Top of the screen
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banner: “The AI Quoter is not part of your plan.” | Tells you the feature is locked. Also shows a See plans button that opens Settings → plan. | Nothing to enter. | Shown only when locked. The plan that includes it is a placeholder, not approved. |
| Banner: “Needs setup: the AI service key is missing.” | Tells you the site owner must add the AI key. | Nothing to enter. | Shown only when setup is missing. |
| Line: “AI drafts are starting points; review prices and quantities before sending” | A reminder. It appears above the drafts too. | Nothing to enter. | Always shown. |
| Usage today: N of N AI requests (click to open) | Shows how many AI requests you have used today against your limit, plus your picture credits this month. | Click to read the notes. | Read-only. The numbers come from your plan and are placeholders, not approved. |
| Retry button | Loads the screen again after an error. | Click it. | Appears only if the screen failed to load. |
1. Who is it for?
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find a customer (search box, placeholder “Type a customer name”) | Filters the Customer list as you type. It waits about 0.3 seconds after you stop typing. | Part of a name, such as “Smith”. | Empty. Shows up to 40 matches. |
| Customer (choose list) | Sets who the draft quote will be saved for. Choosing a customer also loads that customer’s properties and designs. | Pick one, such as “Smith, Jane – 12 Oak St”. | “Choose a customer…”. If you have none: “No customer yet? Add one under Customers first.” |
| Property (choose list) | Picks the property whose measurements the AI can use. | Pick the address for this job. | The customer’s first property. Shows “No property saved” if none (optional). |
| Design (choose list) | Attaches a saved design from one of this customer’s quotes. Its plants and features are sent to the AI. If the design has a description, it fills the job box when the box is empty. | Pick a design, or leave “No design – describe the job instead”. | “No design”. If there is none: “This customer has no saved design”. |
When you pick a design, its picture appears below. A note says “Concept picture – not a build-ready plan” if the picture was made with AI.
2. What is the job?
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common jobs (buttons) | Adds a ready sentence to the job box. Choices: Mulch refresh, New planting bed, Paver patio, New lawn, Fence, Spring clean-up. | Click one. Click several to join sentences. | Nothing added until you click. |
| Describe the job in your own words | The text the AI turns into work items. More detail (sizes, plants, what to remove) gives a better draft. | “Remove the old shrubs along the front of the house, make a 3 ft deep bed with steel edging, plant 6 boxwoods, mulch everything.” | Empty. Up to 3,000 characters. |
| Use the measured areas for sizes (checkbox) | Sends the property’s saved measurements so the AI does not guess sizes. The label also shows the measurement’s title. | Leave ticked if you measured the property. | Ticked. Appears only when the property has measurements. Without them the AI estimates sizes and lists what it assumed. |
| Use the customer’s design (checkbox) | Sends the design’s plants and features, with counts, to the AI. The label shows the total count. | Leave ticked to price the design. | Ticked. Appears only when the chosen design has plants or features. |
| Write the draft (button) | Asks the AI for the work items. Takes about 10 to 30 seconds. | Click it once and wait. | Off until the AI is ready. If your text is under 10 characters and you have no measurements or design, it asks you to describe the job first. If a draft exists it asks “Replace the draft below with a new one?” |
3. Check the draft
This part appears after the AI answers. It starts with two lists when the AI has something to say: What the AI assumed and Worth checking on site. A line “Add your price or quantity for:” names lines that still need a price or quantity.
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section title | Names a group of work on the quote, such as “Front bed”. | Type a new title. | Written by the AI. |
| Include (checkbox) | Leaves the section on or off the draft and its total. | Untick to leave it out without deleting it. | Ticked. |
| Remove section (trash button, “Remove section …”) | Deletes the section after you confirm “Remove this section?” | Click and confirm. | If you remove the last section, the draft is cleared. |
| Type (choose list per line) | Says what kind of cost the line is. Options: Material, Labor, Equipment, Subcontractor, Disposal, Delivery, Other. Choosing Labor with no unit cost uses your crew rate. | Pick the right type. | Set by the AI. |
| Item | The line’s name. | “Boxwood, 3 gal”. | Set by the AI. |
| Qty | How many. Lines with a missing quantity are highlighted. | A number, such as 6. | Set by the AI. |
| Unit | The unit word. | “ea”, “sq ft”, “yd”. | Set by the AI. |
| Unit cost | What one unit costs you. Hidden on Labor lines that use the crew rate (the line shows “crew rate $X/hr” instead). | A number, such as 42.50. | Filled from your price book where it matches. |
| Remove line (X button) | Deletes one line. | Click it. | No confirmation. |
| + Add a line | Adds a blank Material line. | Click, then fill in Item, Qty, Unit and Unit cost. | New line: Material, qty 1, unit “ea”, cost 0. |
| Polish the wording with AI (button) | Rewrites the section titles and scope bullets, and writes an intro. Quantities and prices are not touched. If the AI changes a number, that section is kept as written and a message tells you. | Click once after your edits. | Off until the AI is ready. |
| Create the quote draft (button) | Saves an ordinary draft quote for the chosen customer and opens it. Nothing is sent. | Click when the lines look right. | Off until you choose a customer in step 1. |
The totals row shows Subtotal, Tax (only if your tax setting is above zero) and Total. Tax and deposit come from your Costs settings.
Recent AI drafts
This list shows drafts you created with the AI Quoter: number, title, customer, status, total, work items, “wording by AI” and date. Click a row to open the quote. When it is empty you see “No AI drafts yet” and a Describe a job button that moves you to the job box.
Steps
- Open Contractor Hub → Customers & Sales → AI Quoter.
- Check the banner. If it says locked or needs setup, stop and ask the site owner.
- Under “1. Who is it for?”, search and pick the Customer. Pick the Property and, if there is one, the Design.
- Under “2. What is the job?”, click a Common jobs button or type in Describe the job in your own words.
- Keep or untick Use the measured areas for sizes and Use the customer’s design.
- Click Write the draft and wait up to half a minute.
- In “3. Check the draft”, read the assumptions. Fix titles, types, items, quantities, units and unit costs. Fill in lines that are highlighted.
- Optional: click Polish the wording with AI.
- Click Create the quote draft. The quote opens. Review it, then send it from the quote screen when you are ready.
To confirm it worked, look for the message “Draft quote created. Nothing was sent.” and find the quote in Recent AI drafts.
Tips
- Give sizes in your description, such as “3 ft deep, 40 ft long”.
- Fix the lines marked as needing a price before you send anything.
- Each AI request counts toward your daily limit and each polish uses an AI request too (effect on credits not verified in code beyond the usage lines on screen).
If something goes wrong
- “The AI could not turn that into work items.” Add more detail and try again.
- The Write the draft button is off. The AI key is missing, the feature is locked, or it is paused. Read the banner.
- A plan error with a See plans button. Your plan does not include the AI Quoter.
- The draft saved but is missing from Recent AI drafts. The quote is saved; only the list missed it. Find it under Quotes.